TV Habits and Prestige Recommendations

This episode is brought to you by LinkedIn Ads. Ever invest in something that seemed incredible at first but didn't live up to the hype? Well, marketers know the feeling. They optimize for the numbers that look great, impressions, reach, reacts. But when they don't show revenue, well, that's not such a great conversation with the CFO. LinkedIn has a word for that. Bull spend. Instead, why not invest in what looks good to your CFO? LinkedIn ads generates the highest ROAS of all major ad networks. Reach the right buyers with LinkedIn ads. You can target by company, industry, job title, and more. So cut the bull spend. Advertise on LinkedIn the network that works for you. Spend $250 on your first campaign on LinkedIn ads. Get a $2 50 credit for the next one. Just go to LinkedIn.com slash rewatchables. Terms and conditions apply. The Bill Simmons Podcast is brought to you by FanDuel. We are also brought to you by the Ringer Podcast Network, where I put up a new rewatchables on Monday. We did Kindergarten Cop, which is on Netflix. The movie we're doing on Monday next week, Ghostbusters, also on Netflix. And we're doing a bunch of comedies in May that are on Netflix that we'll go into as we head into um next month. Speaking of podcasts, Lagata, fourth episode went up. Uh this is one of the best things we put up in a while. Uh I've been talking about on this podcast, but we have four episodes. There's seven total. Uh it's a narrative series about the 70s and 80s in cocaine in Miami and Columbia. Please go check it out. Also check out Sean Fantasy's new newsletter. It's called Projections. He put up a really great 4,000-word uh post today. He's coming on this podcast a little bit later. Rob Mahoney. We talked about uh the Wolves and the Nugget series, which is looking pretty grim. We talked about the rise of the Hawks and all the other basketball stuff. we Then brought Sean in to talk about his beloved Knicks and uh OKC and the Lakers. And uh we talked about movies and TV and all kinds of things. So that's the tail end of the podcast. We're gonna take a break. Um, we're gonna come back after Pearl Jam and I'm gonna talk about the NFL draft and the TV night in general. That's next . The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by FanDuel, the NBA postseason is here, and FanDuel knows the only thing better than watching your favorite team win is winning along with them. FanDuel, the best place to bet the teams, players, and plays during their playoff run, build a same game parlay or try live betting and jump in after tip-off. Don't forget with FanDuel, you get paid instantly when you win. Download the FanDuel Sportsbook app now and play your game. 21 plus select states are 18 plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Game problem called 1-800 Gamba, call 8888-79-7777, or visit ccpg.org/slash chat Connecticut. All right, unbelievable TV night tonight. There's always been a great argument about April versus October for Best Sports Month,, uh which I've covered in multiple mailbags back when my fingers worked. And I think the answer is probably October because you really get hardcore NFL and there's just games constantly in the World Series and everything. But this specific week where you have basketball playoffs round one, there's games every night, NHL round one, games every night. You have the NFL draft, um, all the weed up for it, and then you have baseball going on too. So I had this is one of the rare nights where I had to actually break out this big iPad here um for a fourth TV because I wanted to watch Buffalo and the Bruins. I wanted to watch two basketball games. I wanted to watch the NFL draft. I would have careded about R Sox Yankees if the Red Sox were good this year, but that's a sunk cost. Seldom team, John Henry. Anyway, I have some NFL draft thoughts and I want to talk about Vrabel at the end. So in no particular order , pretty boring draft . I think next year's draft's gonna be awesome. So this was almost like the appetizer leading to the entree. Like we knew who the number one pick was gonna be for for three months. Vegas moves into the Mendoza era and uh we'll see, we'll see how good he's gonna be. The only certainty is that uh Tom Brady and Mendoza will probably film some of the most awkward social media content that God has ever created. Those two guys together, anything's possible. I can't even fathom um how wooden some of the interactions are gonna be. Can't wait. Big winners. I guess the Giants, because Reese fell to five. A lot of people, including our own Danny Kelly, had him as the number one player in the draft. Not even 21 years old yet. Awesome pass rusher, you know, just do it all defender potentially. Who knows with these guys? But uh but he fell to five and then they got an offensive lineman. It did seem like there was a moment when they were gonna get downs, the safety, who Dallas took at number 11 and they were going to get Reese and Downs. And I think if you gave true serum to every Giants fan, even though the offensive line was a smart pick for them, if you gave true serum to the Giants fans, doubling down on an already potentially pretty good defense with with Reese and with Downs, I think they all would have signed up for that. And in general, I just think the Giants, um I I I said this on Tuesday's pod. I think they are looming as this year's Patriots. Just that worst of first, easy schedule, added a bunch of guys, new coach. They check every box. So they took uh they took the offensive lineman with the herniated disc. I'm sure it'll be fine. What could go wrong with a herniated disc ? Nine offensive linemen in the first round. We talked about this on Tuesday's pod. The over-under was seven and a half, and that kept moving up. They really could have made eight and a half, and I think it was ended up being nine anyway. So the Giants, they were fun to talk about. Ty Simpson goes to the Rams at number 13. And it was one of those where if he didn't go 13, he might have fallen all the way to the end of the first round. Sean McVay is one of those I'm not trading down, I'm Sean McVeigh. No way . He is Sean McVeigh's one super bowl I probably would have traded down . So this is one of those where this guy do this guy does not check a lot of the quarterback boxes, like career starts. He's not big enough, um, was bad down the stretch, but people were then decided it was more his team's fault that he wasn't that good. And yet you go to the Rams and you just feel like the guy's been minted. I was trying to think of other it's almost like a movie director. You know, if you're in like a Chris Nolan movie, you're just you're in a Chris Nolan movie. It's gonna be fine. And maybe that's the way this will work out with uh Simpson and McVeigh sitting for a year. Um I don't mind the whole not traded down thing personally. I do think we get a little car ried away with that. Where if they go from thirteen to eighteen and pick up a third round pick next year, you know, and and then they take them there, then it's a brilliant move. But if you just take them at thirteen 'cause you wanted them and you're afraid somebody else was going to take them . Not brilliant. Um, I didn't mind it. It felt about, I don't know, 10 picks too high, but whatever. I like Styles to Washington was great. Sonny Styles, the linebacker, um, perfect pick. Gave gave the Washington fans like a signature guy. And then Downs to Dallas was another great one. I really enjoyed Arizona taking love, the running back at number three, which was a classic, uh we don't know who to take care. Fuck it. Let's just take the top guy on our board. Um, the last four top three running backs taken, Ronnie Brown, number two, Reggie Bush, number two, Barkley, number two, and tr and uh Trent Richardson number three. That's 25%. Really small sample size. But uh their quarterback's Jacoby Brissett, and he's being backed up by Gardner Minshew. And I don't think they can really block, and they're in a division with the Rams and the Niners and the Seahawks. So good luck to Love. Um, I was kind of hoping he would fall to the Titans, but he ends up going there and Titans took a receiver . Another big thing that happened, Lemon goes to Philly at at twenty. They trade up for the receiver from USC, which basically confirms that A.J. Brown's going to be in the Patriots because they've just spent all this capital on receiver. We get to watch another Eagles wide receiver slow But AJ Brown sounds like we'll be going to the Patriots. I don't know what the trade is. I really hope it's not next year's number one because I'm not convinced the Patriots are going to be very good next year. There's a lot of bad signs against it, including uh Super Bowl loss, Super Bowl hangover, all that stuff, first place schedule . I'm not sure you know the story that's happening with our coach, but uh it's More stuff from the draft. Jets ended up with three first rounders. They took Bailey second, pass rusher. I thought they should take a race. They took Sadiq, the tight end at sixteen, and then they traded back up into the first round to take Cooper, the uh excellent Indiana receiver. I really like him at at thirty. So great draft on paper. Um, they did trade two of their best players to get two of the picks that then led to them coming out of the first round being like, We got we got three starters in the first round. Well, it's because you traded two. It's like optical illusion. But I didn't mind the draft. I thought they should take in Reese. Kansas City got a cornerback. They traded up for that. New England traded up for Lomu, the uh the tackle, who I guess is going to be the right tackle from Utah , but traded up jumped Kansas City in the Niners. The Patriots never jumped teams, so that was fun. Uh so they gave up a fourth rounder in that pick. And then Meg Vrabel is also giving up the fourth round on Saturday. Tennessee took Tate fourth. So we'll get on the glass half full word to Tate connection. Sounds fun. Red flag that he was the second best receiver at Ohio State and somehow went number one in this draft. I got slate, slate, slate Marvin Williams flashbacks with that. Remember when Marvin Williams got taken ahead of Chris Paul in the 2005 NBA draft , even though um he didn't start for North Carolina. I was like a voice crying in the wilderness. This seems wrong. Why didn't this guy start for North Carolina? How is he gonna be the number two pick in the draft? Um the other one that worried me was Tyson, the wide receiver, who's stud but injury prone. And I talked on Tuesday about the different types of wide receivers. The injury prone stud has broken a lot of hearts over the years and sometimes made some teams happy. You just never know . He goes to the Saints, a team that plays in the Superdome , and has a pretty legendary situation with the Saints and the Pelicans and they cheap out on uh training staff, medical staff stuff, and it just feels like a good luck all the way around. I don't know if I would have taken this guy if I'm the Saints. Um , but I guess Chris Olave has somebody to play cards with when he's in the trainer's room. The biggest thing I noticed from the draft, other than I don't really understand ESPN strateg y of having the college guys on ABC and then whatever that Mike Greenberg thing was on ESPN, but not just using the NFL live people , which is a really good show. I just maybe would have used those people, but um God ell's hugs . This has been weird the entire time he's been doing it, and there's been a million comments and a million videos, and I'm I'm not breaking any new ground here. The hugs have gotten longer. I think he's tried to figure out how he can I'd love for somebody to break this down, the hugs from 10, 12 years ago to the hugs in 2026. Because I think he's holding on longer. I think he's trying to make them more meaningful. And they're starting to take on the vibes of somebody who's reuniting with their son who just did a five year tour in Vietnam in the early seventies and came home and they never thought they'd see their son again and they see them and they're just hugging for ten, twelve seconds, and that's how long these hugs are taking now. And I d I just don't understand that. I know it's this thing . It's pretty weird. And I think we're forgetting how weird it is. I just think it's strange that he hugs 32 people for 10 seconds apiece, it feels like. Uh I don't know. And I also don't know. It's almost like wrestling when the moves in wrestling they kept going higher and higher with the jumps and then eventually you have people jumping off twenty five foot ladders and shit like that. And you're like, all right, somebody's gonna break their neck now. I don't know how far how much further he can push the hugs . I guess I guess we'll we'll be on pins and needles trying to find out. Um the they the Steelers were up and it was in Pittsburgh and they had over 320,000 people there. I asked this every year. I have no idea why anybody would want to go to the draft. Um I'm trying to think at any point in my life when I was the craziest about sport s, even when, you know, I was going to Yankee Stadium and sitting in the upper deck wearing a red sock shirt and Bruins pants, um , and just was a lunatic . I don't even think then I would have wanted to go to the draft. I just don't really understand why people want to go. Maybe I'm missing something. I'd love if you know you can feel free to email me at BS Podcast33 and explain it. I just don't get it. I don't really want to do anything that has 320,000 people in it, but I'm also old. But anyway, they played Renegade by Sticks that that's they've kind the Steelers have kinda claimed. Pretty good song. Can't can't kill 'em on that. And they got the crowd into an absolute frenzy because the Steelers are picking and Jerome Bettis was coming out waving a towel. And then they took a left tackle. And I always think that's funny when that happens. I always really enjoy that. Um , talk about Vrabel really quick. You know , the story happened. Diana Rossini has been on this podcast before. I don't know her very well. I met only met her one time in New Orleans. Um and Vrabel is the coach of my favorite team . So this happened, the whole story happens, and I was debating whether to talk about it on the pod and it's just like uh they're both married, both have kids, like let's kind of see where this goes. And I thought I would maybe cover it a mailbag or something. And then this week it goes to a whole other level to the point that it really did become a football story this week. Because for one thing, he's missing the third day of the draft where the Patriots had eight picks. Now they have seven because they traded the fourth rounder. But uh he's he stayed there today for the draft. He's there tomorrow. And then he's gone for the weekend because he's got some family counseling stuff and uh did a press conference today and basically was like, I have to do this. Um you know, he was like family first and football respectable. Um I don't know why I couldn't start on a Sunday, but um that made it more of a football story. And then the fact that this seemed to be going on for um a long time . Um you know, though almost like that movie, same time next year, cross with Brokeback Mountain or something. But um at some point , this became one of the craziest Boston stories I think ever. I don't, I can't tell you how many texts I've gotten about it, how many I've sent about it, like just trying to figure out like is this story gonna get worse? And it actually feels like it, like there's more coming. And it feels like, you know, the the evidence is whether it was an on again, off again thing, or whatever, but they clearly had some sort of relationship and she was covering the team and he was coaching the Titans and the and the Patriots. She was covering the league. Um and the, you know, the athletic got involved. They stood up. The Athletic and the Patriots both stood up for them because they were telling them, you know, no, this story's nothing. It's a nothing burger, which you're gonna do if you're trying to protect your family . But then it was clear there was way more to the story and now the tone has shifted. And it just feels like if, you know, all the Patriots fans that I I'm talking to, and you know, even somebody like my dad, and we talk about it, we're just like, this feels like a terrible omen just for the season, not to mention all the personal stuff. There's no way this isn't gonna affect the coach. There's no way this isn't gonna affect the team. Also coming off some of the other stuff that happened and the way Vrabel carried himself last year is like such a leader and the Patriots are a family and is this gonna seem genuine now. And it's just one of those it's one of those sports stories that just sucks in every capacity, other than, you know, unless you're on social media get jokes out of it, but um in terms of like the craziest Boston stories ever, which I really try to put some time into thinking about, and I didn't want to put like dark stuff like Reggie Lewis, things like that, but just the the kind of what the fuck, the WTF Boston Sports Stories. A really great one. When I was uh when I was a kid, the Celtics won the 1976 tit le. And then they let Paul Silas go, who was their best re bound and was my dad's favorite player. And Dave Cowens, the center, who was, you know, one of the best players in the league, just retired the next season in his prime and sat out like the first 35 games and at one point i can't remember i think he drove a cab one night but then at one point he took a job working for suffolk downs the race track and this was just being covered day to day um in boston, like i i'm trying to think if this happened now because but the players didn't make that much money back then, but um I can't describe how fucking bonkers this was when it was happening. Like Dave Cowens, he's just gonna retire. And it's like Dave Cowens took a job at Suffolk Downs. Um, that story was nuts. The Larry Bird 1985 bar fight that happened in the playoffs that we didn't find out about until all of a sudden he was having issues with his thumb, and he was the best player in the league and he was in the hottest streak he'd ever had and then all of a sudden he his his shot was going sideways and he had a obviously swollen thumb. And then it turned out he was in a bar fight in Boston. And then it got reported by Dan Shaughnessy and everybody got mad at Shaughnessy that he kind of um kind of told a tale about Bird, but actually it was a real story and he should have written about it. And it was one of the things that cost him the title. That was weird. But it turned out he punched some dude in a bar. Paul Pierce getting stabbed was awful. Oil Cam Boyd , um, which was one of our best pitchers during the 1980s, 60 season when we went to the World Series and then had thirteen pitches to win the World Series. And uh and um I don't know if you remember, but we fucking lost the World Series to the Mets. But Oil Cam Boyd, he did maken't the All-Star team and spun out and disappeared and was actually on the cover of Sports Illustrated. And there were all these rumors that he was doing drugs and all the and he was just really unraveled in all these different ways . Um and then um came back and pitched and then became so unreliable that they couldn't pitch him in in game seven. And um it was one of the many reasons why they lost to the Mets. And in two thousand twelve, oil camboyne admitted that he was smoking crack every day during the season. So uh our fears were valid. But that was just really weird looking back. I may adoka and the Celtics, that happened recently, and that was crazy. Irving Fryer missed the 1985 AFC Championship game. He was not our best receiver, but one of our best offensive players, and he was a kick returner. He was the number one pick in the eighty four dra ft. And he missed it because he had a hand laceration. And then it turned out his his wife stabbed him in the kitchen in the hand. And it came the story that came out. And that story was nuts. But obviously the winner here is Aaron Hernandez, and we don't need to go into this. Um but this Rabel Rossini story is really nuts. And it's been interesting to watch everybody who has a platform try to figure out ways to talk about it because at one point it didn't really feel like a story, but now it is. And um it's undeniable. And even today, like I was really convinced that he was either going to step aside for two months or, maybe even stepped down. And this is a guy that completely rejuvenated the team, turned the culture around, created something that seemed really substantial. And if you had told me in January we'd have questions about Drake May and Mike Vrabel, that would have seemed insane. I don't have any questions about Drake May, by the way. I think the weird thing about this story is I don't know if it's over. Is there more stuff coming? We're already seeing like today, there was 2020 um photos from back then. And then there was like the people are it seems like they're going through their iPhones like, oh yeah, I think I was at a bar one night. I noticed. So who knows if this is gonna keep going. But Vrabel, his demeanor at the press conference today, um, he just looked like he had been hit by a truck. And uh it was really, really strange. So we'll uh we'll see how this goes. But I I felt like I had to had to mention. This is about as crazy of a Boston sports story as I can remember. And uh we'll see how it plays out, I guess. All right. We're gonna take a break. We're gonna come back and we're gonna talk basketball with Rob Mooney. Are the nuggets? How much trouble are they? That's next. The Bill Simmons podcast is brought to you by my friends at FanDuel. NBA fans, this is your reminder to check in daily because every day during the playoffs, which have been really fun so far, FanDuel is serving up a happy hour. We're talking special drops you won't want to miss from profit boost to bonus bets and more. And the best part, it's every single day, including today. I am probably going back to the well with the Celtics. I had everything in place for game two, except the part that the Celtics didn't actually beat the Sixers at home, but I like their money line and a revenge thing. So I'm gonna try to figure out a couple things to put with that, including probably Tatum to be 10 plus rebounds again. Check for a new reward every single day of the NBA playoffs and don't miss your shot to get a little extra out of the action. Head to fandle.com/slash BS to get started. Twenty-one plus select states are 18 plus DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming, restrictions apply. C terms at sportsbook.fandle.com. Game prompt call 1-800-Gambor, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/slash chat in Connecticut. This episode is brought to you by Michelobe Ultra. You know what my favorite thing about the playoffs is? I like during it, and it's usually maybe a game four, might even be a game five. Game seven, everyone's nervous, there's a different level of energy. But game four, game five, for one of the two teams, there's this realization with like five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Well it's like, uh-oh . Our fate is is suddenly in real flux right now. Who's stepping up? What are we going to do? What's calm down? Can we rise to the moment or are we going to shrink from it? And you can kind of see it with different teams. It's definitely like for instance going to happen in this Denver, Minnesota series. There's going to be a moment in one of the later games when all of a sudden either Minnesota's taking it from Denver and at some point somebody in Denver's going to have to hit a shot and you're gonna look around and go, who's gonna do it? Or in Minnesota's case, maybe Denver um is is is punching them back and now Edwards has to step up or DiFincenzo, and you just never know. And you never know how somebody's going to respond to pressure. But that's why we love the playoffs every spring. Uh it's as great as opening up a Micelob Ultra, a nice cold one, crisp, refreshing, the ultimate prize. Plus, as the official beer partner of the NBA, they're giving fans a chance to win courtside tickets, custom merch, and more. You could be at one of those games when the pressure rises. Micelobe Ultra superior is worth playing for. Enter now at MicelobeUltra .com slash courtside. MicelobUltra Courtside 25-26. No purchase necessary. Open a U.S. res idence twenty one plus begins on October first ends on June 30th 2026 multiple entry periods see official rules at McLobUltra.com slash courtside for free entry entry deadlines and prizes and details. All right, we're recording a little after 9 p.m. Pacific time. Incredible sports night. Rob Mahoney is here. We're gonna talk basketball first. I thought we'd be here under better circumstances, Rob. Wolves Nuggets, game three. Uh Jaden McDaniels talking all kinds of trash about the Nuggets defense. Uh uh, and then all of a sudden Aaron Gordon gets scratched. It's like, uh oh. Uh, and then Minnesota just kicked their ass again. And uh I as a longtime Joker fan, Joker and Curry, my two favorite non-Celtics, I just like watching them play basketball. I don't think I'm gonna be potentially watching him in about 10 days. It's it's heartbreaking for you for many of us. I have to say though, you know, we give Jokic a lot of benefit of the doubt when things like this happen. When the circumstances aren't ideal, when guys are scratched out of the lineup, he gets a lot of leeway. His inability over these last two games to get anything going whatsoever against Rudy Gobert is a massive problem. And I think it's fair to hold him to a different standard. Like we talk about him as one of these stars who doesn't need ideal circumstances to be effective, who doesn't need everything to be just so to win. And yet in this series against an opponent like Minnesota, it kind of feels that way. It's tough because he can't make threes. They're not going in. Nope. And Minnesota is just doing one on one with him versus Joker. And if he's not making the threes, that means he either has to beat him off the dribble, which is hard, or he has to post him up, which is really hard. And they're willing to live. Like I think he had he had like 23 shots pretty early in the uh third quarter of this game. Um that's not what he that's not how he wants to play. That's not how Denver wants to play, but they've just made the decision. Like, yeah, Joker, knock yourself out, take 30 shots. If you're not making threes, you're probably gonna go like 12 for 30. And that's great for us. So the Gordon thing, you know, I could say I did a thing on Tuesday about it, about uh I didn't like the way he looked in game two at all. I didn't really know fully what the injury was, but he clearly wasn't himself. And you know, unfortunately every team has their superpower guy. Like I I think for the Celtics, it's white. Um, if they're gonna win the title, he's gonna have to shoot better and play better than he is. I think for the Knicks, it's Ananobi. Like you go on down the line, everybody has the one guy. For sure. And I think for the Nuggets, it's Gordon. And without him and without Peyton Watson, I don't really see a path unless there's a corresponding Timberwolves injury. Well, especially with Gordon, even when he was out there but wasn't himself, the concept of him was enough to be a deterrent for a lot of the other things that the wolves might throw at you defensively versus a game like this. And it's because he's such an important shooter for them. He's really the piece that elevates like the two-man uh Murray Jokic stuff into like a three-man action that's really sophisticated and really hard to stop. He's the connector of so much of what they try to run. And so not having him out there, you saw it in the first half, like just the drop-off from going to from Aaron Gordon to Cam Johnson, Spencer Jones, Christian Brown, I think combined for two total points in the first half between the three of them, Minnesota can just sit in every passing lane, clog up everything that that Denver's trying to run. It's it's just it feels like a non-starter in a lot of ways. And I say that knowing that yoke is just one of the game's like great like cerebral thinkers and problem solvers in a way that we would expect him to have a solution to this. And right now it just looks like he doesn't really have many answers. Yeah, and he looked a just a whiff defeated during this game, too. Yeah. I've seen him, there's versions of him when he knows like, all right, guys, let's go. And maybe he'll be like that in game four. But this game he really felt like he was trying to problem solve. And when he can't make threes, I think it's gonna be really hard. Uh we talked too much about Denver without talking enough about Minnesota. McDaniels McDaniels, if CJ McCollum wasn't in the playoffs, would be the breakout star of the playoffs. Yeah. Even though he's done versions of this before, but he's been so I I didn't vote for him for either team for all defense, did you? I did not. I to be honest, in the regular season, I thought he was like a little more up and down than normal. Well, that so were the Timberwolves. Fair. Yeah. Uh when he's playing like this and Ant, even though he's clearly not a hundred percent, but the defense was going around, then Io, which was the best move of the trade deadline, um, other than maybe Kobe White and you know, they had no point guard. They were on the Rob Dillingham, uh, washed up Mike Conley, Bones Highland roller coaster at that spot. And sometimes not even playing a point guard. They and we are still on the Bones Highland roller coaster. I I want to give Bones an apol ogy because he's just been straight up like a legit playoff performer for them. Certainly miles ahead of whatever they would have gotten from Rob Dillingham at this stage. Yeah, the concept of Bones Highland was always what we're actually watching in this Minnesota series where it's like, eh, that thirty footer might go in. Oh it did . Uh oh, he's talking all kinds of shit, even though he has seven points. Um this is kinda what his destiny was. Now of, course he, left Denver because he didn't really like playing with the Joker and Murray, and that seemed like a failure of an IQ test. But maybe maybe maybe Bones found his way. Minnesota, I would call them the rope and dope the rope and dope Timberwolves where I don't know what to expect from them game to game, week to week. There were three different times during this season where I'm like, here we go. I even have a 12 to 1 Timberwolves title bet that I made in February and they immediately went on like a seven-game losing streak. Um they're just all over the map. I don't think Chris Finch has aged, I think six years in the last two. Oh, easily. And the frustrating thing about Minnesota, and the reason we talked about them so much during the season, is they can do this. They can do what we just saw in the last couple games. They can get to this level. So why? Why why is it a backs to the wall thing with them? And is it sustainable for you? I mean, everything you just described says it's not perfectly sustainable. And even in this game, like they played an amazing first half and then had moments in the second half where they were just fouling a bunch, like doing the kinds of things that you might do to let a team like the Nuggets back in the game. They were just so far ahead by that point. And I I think you're spot on about Jokic in particular looking a little bit defeated, looking like they're just gonna kind of punt this game and move on. Yeah. You have to believe in the wolves because of this high-end potential though, because they do have this in them. And I want to say in particular, have this kind of game in them when it wasn't like ant was amazing. It wasn't like Julius Randall was unbelievable. It was just a collective defensive performance that was as much about, you know, leading scorer Io Desumnu as it was Dante Di Vincenzo, as it was Jaden McDaniels, as it was Rudy Gobert. Like they were all tethered together in a way that's really, really tough to beat. Yeah, Denver had six points with like two minutes left in the first quarter. Timberwolves weren't even shooting like that well. It wasn't like they were blowing it up offensively, but the defense was just awesome. I don't really understand it. I saw them in person play the Clippers right after the trade deadline when they had just gotten IO and they looked awesome. And there was like specific stretches . I remember leaving the game like wow, that's like watch out for that team. That might have been the day I made the bet. And then like a week later, they played the Clippers again and they were down 30 in the first half. And that was when they went into one of their many tailspins during the thing, but it was like, what? I just saw you guys a week ago and you seemed like you had your shit together. Um , this got bad enough for Denver that I was wondering if they were gonna go twin towers with Joe I don't know. Valentinous feels kind of unplayable in the series at this point. Well, but that's that's when when we're talking about searching for answers, my mind went there for about 20 seconds. That's a dangerous what would that look like? I at this point I I think I'd be more comfortable maxing out the Zeke Najee minutes than I would making some more space for Valentinus. It just doesn't feel like he has much of a spot in this matchup. No, I don't think so. I was I was trying to figure out any way that they could put a second big body out there to take some some pressure off the Joker, but that wasn't happening. I think like it's a little simplistic, but with this roster constructed as it is, like the only way you're gonna get offensive flow is if Jokic and Murray just play a lot better than this. And they're just gonna have to do that against hellacious defensive pressure that's attached to them every step of the way. It's gonna be incredibly difficult if Gordon can't go. But none of these other guys like create flow for your offense. They just draft off of everything that Jokic and Murray usually create for them. And so it's not a surprise to see the entire offense going gummy when you remove that like critical spacing and flow element in Aaron Gordon from the mix. And they unlocked a couple of things. Like they're just gonna be in Murray's face, the ninety-four feet. That's just how they're gonna play. They're gonna it seems like they wanna run after every rebound. Especially when Io's out there. Like they just want to go. Um he's trying to get downhill all the time. Oh yeah. When Io and Dante are out there together, like both of those guys, just like by the way they play, rev up everyone around them. And the amplifying effect of both of them on the floor at the same time is really awesome and really special. And I think maybe kind of insulates them a little bit from some of their more wolves-y up and down qualities, right? Like the offense is never gonna be super precise in terms of how they execute. They're always gonna be a little bit vulnerable to that. Yeah. But if when you do go on the runs, you add four points to that run, because I would assume you came up with two steals in the process, then it's like you can weather the downs IO played 31 minutes today and at a twenty five and nine. It was ten for fifteen. Got to the line six times. Incredible. The bulls were like, Yeah, take 'em. Yeah. Why would you want to a player like this be a part of your future? What would what would be the point of that? Especially when you see him in person. Like he's a big dude. He's not a point guard. Like he's big shoulders. Looks like he's about six three, six four, um, can switch on anybody and is just really impressive. So when they play, when they have him, I'd love to see the five I haven't looked at the five man lineups, but when it's McDaniels, Gobert , Dante, Edwards, and then I o . It's a that's a lineup that I feel like could could hang in the next couple rounds. And it's going to be the big question, because you know, he it seems like he's stubbornly playing through something, but he's we'rele fclextivibely like going down and playing with it and looking at it and I don't know. We're this is a long haul. We're in week two of a well how many weeks are we going here? 12? Not great. Yeah he's not fully himself for sure. They're gonna need as as these games get a little bit more competitive than this one, like the best of Julius Randle a little bit more often than they might otherwise, just because of whatever ant has left at this point. Game 82, Denver has a chance to just roll over against San Antonio, get to the fourth seed and play Houston. I kind of like that they said fuck it for the Denver Nuggets. On the other hand, probably better, better off if they're playing that messed up Rockets team and it switches two series because it gave the Lakers life. True. It would have no chance against this Minnesota team. Um, and now Reeves is coming back, and we're gonna talk about that in a second. But uh Aaron Gordon, this is his 12th year. Mm-hmm. He's played 756 games, 68 games. This is the first time I started thinking about a finish line with this Nuggets run. Yeah. Where Gordon, who I think has just had a lot of nothing like a catastrophic injury but some mileage and some some dings and some bangs on his body and we might have seen the best version of him we might see a 90% version of him but sure um so you have that you have joker um who's been dominated in the 2020s you have murray with some miles on him he had a knee surgery like i i am a little worried about the long term with this team if they can't get out of the series. Yeah. I think there are parts of Aaron Gordon's game that are gonna be just fine as he, you know, diminishes ever so slightly from I don't know, one of the like seven most athletic people on the planet into the like top 25 most athletic people on the planet. Uh, like he's such a smart, positional defender. He knows how to rotate, he knows how to communicate. Like he's so good at tethering in to his teammates on both sides of the ball. But they also rely on him to do superhuman things all the time, to guard up and down the positional spectrum, especially to like cross-match against other bigs and really like be a bully in a bunch of different ways. And that's tough if you're coming up with calf injuries and hamstring injuries all the time. Like that's you have to be really explosive to do the best Aaron Gordon stuff. And I I don't know how long that will be a reasonable ask. Well, we'll see. I don't want to pronounce the nuggets dead. No . Game four I think is the series for them . I don't think they can win three straight with uh with a banged up Gordon. So if they fall down three one, even though five and seven are in Denver, that seems too tall of a task. Minnesota's too good defensively. So everything will come down to game four. And the NBA already played their Scott Foster card tonight . So uh there you go. Uh one last thing. A little bit of a legacy series for our guy Rudy? Oh, sure. I was looking it up. So he's made a second team all NBA and two third teams. He's been defensive player of the year four times, first time, first team all D seven. Career, he's basically 13 and 12 with two blocks. Uh, he's played 89 playoff games, two conference finals, 12 and 11 in the playoffs. With the declining line for Hall of Fame players in the NBA as as we've continued to make it pretty blurry what a Hall of Fame player is. I actually think there's a chance he gets in . I I think he's absolutely getting in. Okay . He's a four time defensive player of the year. It is getting into the it's hard for me to wrap my head around it. I think he's in. No, he's gonna happen. Now I do think a series like this could change just the way a lot of people talk about him, right? In terms of the playoff liability, we've seen , I think, some very specific moments where he was taken taken out of the game in like again, very, very specific circumstances. And that has been overblown into oh, you can't keep him on the floor and high-leverage uh like playoff situations. That was never really the case. A lot of the teams that he was on that faltered defensively were more about like what perimeter guys couldn't hold down their spot and Rudy being overstretched maybe a little bit. But he's one of the best defensive players of his generation, if not all time. He's a winning player through and through. He's helped a bunch of different, like at least these two different franchises at this point. I think he's he's kind of a shoe-in based on the accolades alone. So the reason I don't think he's a shoe-in, although you never know with the line these days, is that there's just a lot of good players that are gonna be popping in and the careers are longer, and we're gonna see people with I think better credentials. Like cause Draymond's another one that I I actually think Draymond is more realistic to get in than Rudy because of uh of all the titles and all the finals and the playoffs stuff like that. Yep. But just think if you go through the teams and it's like, well Curry, Clay, Draymond, they're all getting in . Um, Westbrook and Durant, they're getting in. Tatum and Brown, they're probably getting in. Like you go on down the line, it's like it's just a lot of guys. So I guess it would depend on how many, uh, how many they do. But yeah, it was the first time I was watching it, I was like, wow, Rudy's really kind of cement ing a Hall of Fame case out of nowhere. Uh we'll do quickly Raptors Cavs. Probably the best game of Scottie Barnes' career. He was awesome. Maybe the best game, but RJ Barrett's career. They both had 33. Both have a good series, to be honest. Like, even though the Cavs overall have clearly been up and mostly down, but they have not been the problem. They have been rock solid, I would say, throughout these first three. And they got a big Murray Boyles little Jameson battle. He's back. Hitting some closing threes today. Um this it turned out it's not the series for Brandon Inger Moore, Yakub Purdle? I don't know if there's ever a series for Jakob Purdo, but it's not the series for Brandon Inger for some reason, which is weird to me, because I thought he would have some good matchups. But to me, this is way more a story of the Cavs and all of the issues I had with them as a real contender. I just don't think they're good enough defensively. I don't trust the Mitchell Harden just they Mitchell today was just for him, for somebody that was a first team all MBA guy on some ballots and a fifth place MVP guy, it was just a no show in in a game three that it's like just just go out there, slit their throats, get out of this. Get the make this a sweep. And he did the opposite. It looked like he didn't Especially like Donovan Mitchell takes his shots in terms of his playoff performance too, but it's more about what he is in a team context and the idea that you can't just have him throw a whole team on his shoulders and superman his way through everything once you get into the second round or whatever. Yeah. But generally speaking, he shows up and competes. And this is a highly unusual game for him where you're right. He felt a little disconnected. He felt a little absent. I think the Cavs turnovers overall had a lot of them feeling a little bit out of sorts in terms of what they were supposed to be doing. It was a lot. And turn and Toronto, to their credit, like really dialed that up in a way that they needed to come Yeah um he was bad. Evan Mobley's just always slightly disappointing at this point. You never feel just fully satisfied. I don't know what what food item he is. Like you're excited to get it and then it's like, yeah, this was all right. I feel like you need to swing big. You need to be like cate foie bras. Pan seered filet sole with the breadcrumbs. And it's like, ah, I'm not really filled. Can we get pizza? The soul meunier, tough, tough shots on the Bill Simmons podcast this week. Just always a little slightly disappointed, but I just don't think , you know, I think Toronto's a pretty bogus five seed. You knew they were going to win one of these at home. I picked Cleveland in six, and I don't even like Toronto. Yeah. Um I, just don't you you can just rain these open threes on Cleveland. That's how Toronto built all of a sudden they're up 25 in this game. Just because they had guys wide open all over the court, just taking whatever shot they wanted. Um and I don't I don't think Harden this was not like a no show James Harden game. Like he was a little omnipresent, but uh pretty strange. Cleveland's a weird team. They are a weird team. I I will say on like as far as those open three threes go for Toronto. They are I mean, they have to be the streakiest three point shooting team in the league. They have a lot of theoretical guys who will hit in the way that they did today, but they will have some bottom out games that make their offense just completely implode. I thought Murray Boyles was excellent today. He's a dog. He's really good. I wonder if there's some lineups where they just are gonna just go they can go smaller because they had these long athletic eyes and just be like, hey, this is what we're gonna do. Try to stop us. Um, that the game four will be the game with that series, too. You know, home team usually wins game three when they're down two-nothing. This is how the a playoff series goes. Game four, we'll see. We'll see if those shots keep going in. I want to see what happens with Brandon Ingram. It's funny if you go through the uh player who's probably the most bummed out on each playoff team, even though we just had a win. It would have been Mikhail Bridges today at the Knicks, if the Knicks had won. It's definitely Ingram where he's like, all right, guys, good game. But meanwhile he's like, what the fuck? I only had nine shots. Um, you know, I just I just can't with Brandon Ingram. I wish we had a larger body of work to point to that would say that Brandon Ingram when push comes to shove is like again quite underwhelming in the Saul Monnier kind of way in these sorts of games where it's like, even the even when he scores, it's like, why aren't you guarding? Why aren't you like there's always something with him in a way that I agree with you is covered up nicely by the fact that the raptors around him acclimated themselves well. He's the onion rings. It's like I don't even know. You're glad you had three, and then you're like, I don't want to keep eating these. This is just this is 900 calories. I'm gonna feel sick. What then you're having, you're like half-heartedly eating the fifth one. Um we have fantasy coming on later to talk about the Knicks with us in the playoffs in general. But that doesn't mean we can't talk about Atlanta right now. I have so many Atlanta thoughts. A joyous Rembert Brown called me immediately after the game. he thinks CJ McCollum is in the running now for greatest hawk of all time. What is that list? What is the greatest hawk list? It's basically Dominique Wilkins and then pick anybody else after him. Unless you want to go way back to St. Louis with Bob Pettit. Um Knicks are up three. Atlanta gets a second chance, Jalen Johnson offensive rebound put back. Knicks have it. It's like 45, 50 seconds left. And the Knicks have been money in these situations all year. Atlanta gets a stop. Time uh offensive rebound Knicks. Atlanta gets another stop. Timeout 15 seconds left. Mike Brown goes small. CJ McCollum says, thank you. And immediately scores a Miles McBride. And then Atlanta gets a stop . And all of a sudden the game's over. And Atlanta is up 2-1 in the series. And uh I thought that deserved to win the game was the bigger thing. They're up 18. The Knicks almost did their ridiculous. It would have been the fourth time in the last two playoffs that they came back from 18 and 1. This time they didn't win. Why, in your opinion, do the Knicks consistently fall behind ? Oh see, now we're talking about the Knicks. We should wait till Sean. Uh Atlanta . How many teams do you think are kicking themselves that they didn't go for McCollum anytime from November to February. At least a half dozen. And I think top of that list, it has to be the Houston Rockets. Yes. Like this was one that we flagged on group chat early in the season as far as like what should they do post-Fred Van Vliet's injury. CJ's just been sitting there on the shelf waiting for someone to trade for him. And I think a lot of teams overthought it. And he couldn't be this for just anybody. Like you need the right supporting cast, you need the guards who can compensate for him defensively. You need the movement to work around the fact that he's not like the most natural playmaker in the floor on uh in the world. But he gives them and this group like exactly the kind of squirrely one-on-one game that they need. Yeah. And so it's it's turned out to be a perfect marriage, but it could have been a perfect marriage for a lot of teams. He would have really, really, really helped Houston. Yeah. The thing with him is he's not a conventional point guard, but he's really comfortable with the ball, which is I to me like doesn't really make him any different than somebody like Donovan Mitchell. Right. They're guards who can bring the ball up. They're not point guards, they're scoring guards, but they can kind of run an offense and they can handle the ball and you can't press them. I was looking at his career . First of all, he's thirty-four. So I think if if he's the leap guy, I tweeted this. If he's the making the leap guy in the playoffs, yeah, I think he'd be the oldest guy ever. It's usually we have that one guy. We're like, whoa, this guy. And there's like three days of stories about him . He in 69 playoff games has is a career average of 20 points a game. And this includes his first year, he scored zero point seven points a game for six playoff games when he barely played. In two thousand nineteen, when they made the conference finals and lost to the Warriors, he played nineteen playoff games and he was twenty four point seven points a game, forty-four, thirty-nine, seventy three threes a game. And in his career, he's basically been between 18 and 25 a game since 2016. Yeah. It's really weird to me that none of these contending teams, and I kind of wish I had made a bigger deal out of my pot. I didn't even think of it because he was seemed so buried in Washington. It just seemed like he was going to get bought out and join somebody. But it's weird to me that some of these teams that could have needed him, I think the Lakers are another one that could have, even though they ended up with Conard, and I think that worked out. But you go through the league and I don't know. I mean, this guy's a professional scorer and he hasn't really lost a step. Especially if you have any solid playm aking from two to four in your starting lineup, like a Jalen Johnson type player is. Yeah. Then yeah, why wouldn't you invest in a guy who isn't running your offense sure, but can connect enough players and attract enough attention to really get things going? I really do think a lot of teams overthought it. And I think we're seeing now where like I want to be very clear that this is not like a a vintage CJ McCollum performance. You're right that this is a leap, right? This is a dramatic shift, not just in how he's perform ing and in the like the moments that he's stepping up into, but he has a usage right now in the playoffs that's like above Ant and Donovan Mitchell and these other guys we're talking about. He is he's dominating an offense, whereas before he was scoring in one. And it turns out he can do that on a team like this, at least in this sort of series where he has these sorts of matchups. And this is what is so mystifying about that final score, like the go-ahead bucket against Deuce McBride . He had been killing every Deuce McBride's size defender that the Knicks put in front of him all game. He gave Deuce the two small after he busted his ass on like a first quarter, second quarter possession. And Josh Hart had done a little bit better, a little bit of size had gone a long way in kind of containing CJ over the course of the game. And yet on a critical defensive possession, you're just gonna guard him with Deuce McBride. Like why would you do that ? Dumbfounding. I I actually did research on this during the game. When you throw in CJ, who they're obviously gonna resign now. Maybe at a lesser deal, but they have a lot of cap space to play the second greatest hawk of all time.. You have to bring it back You have to bring it back. It's him and Bob Pettett, two A and two B. Uh and they have Jalen Johnson, Daniels, they have Alexander Walker under contract, a kongu who is terrific tonight. Oh, he's really good. I'm sure they're gonna bring back Kaminga. That's another one on a Kongw that the final defensive possession where Jalen Brunson could have theoretically won it. Yeah. I think attention is going to be drawn in a lot of different ways. Maybe we'll just gloss over it, or Jalen Brunson will get blamed for not scoring in that situ ation or whatever. If you watch a nyeka Akangu, because Dyson Daniels is guarding Brunson, he gets hung up on, I think was probably like a moving cat screen, to be honest with you. Yeah. Akongu sees it, busts ass across the court to get to Brunson, stalls out the whole possession, basically saves the game with just like situational awareness. And Akang was having a great series. This was an awesome game for me. Yeah, I agree. I'm a I'm a mild stockholder. I don't have a huge position, but I have bought some Okongu stock over the years. Kaminga , which listen, I don't think there's a lot of teams he makes sense for, but he makes sense on this team. Clearly . It's like some seeing somebody like crime one oh one and you know just seeing a couple of the actors in that movie be like, all right, for this movie, that's fine. Halle Berry, great. Um, but they have this New Orleans pick too. Yeah . And they actually um it's the better of that pick or Milwaukee. So they have a couple chances to get in the top four. So I asked Rembert, like , is this the best time to be a Hawks fan since 1988 , which was the year that Dominique's Peak, Doc Rivers, Antoine Carr, Cliff Lamingston, they take the Celtics to seven. Dominique and Bird have the amazing duel. Dominique's one of the best players in the league. And And since then, the only other peaks for them, they I mean they were pretty good in that they had a couple 90s where they had like 50-win teams that were fine. They had that 2015 season with Horford and all those dudes, the joint players of the week and Mike Budenholzer. Did they win 60 that year? They won 60. They got swept in the uh Eastern Finals. And then 21, they made the Eastern Finals. They had that weird Sixers series win when Ben Simmons' career ended and Trey Young made a couple plays. Sure, yeah. Um, and they made the Eastern Finals. Nobody really took them seriously. But I think the combo of them playing well, but the fact that they actually have a foundation. Um they have the best foundation I think they've had in a long time. I honestly think since since the 80s, because when you throw in that New Orleans pick and how good this draft is, this is just going to be a really good team for a while. I suspect so. But we also said the same thing after that 2021 run. Like 'cause it was Trey, it was DeAndre Hunter, it was Kevin Herter. It was like a lot of guys who were on the come up who now with the benefit of hindsight we know didn't we? We got fooled by Trey Young a little bit. Well, we also got fooled by the Sixers and Ben Trummans. And yeah, you look back and that was definitely one of those uh the we'll got pulled over our eyes series. Oh yeah. But this this this does not feel that way. No. No, this feels like a I know what they are. I think they have a real identity. I think in the draft they can really add somebody who could be special. And if they bring Kaminga and CJ back at reasonable deals. Like, there's something here. Um, all right, so that's the positive version of the Atlanta Knicks series. We're gonna take a break and then we're gonna bring Sean Fantasy for the uh for the Knicks heart attack section of this. This episode is brought to you by ServiceNow. Look, I already have my dream job. I run the ringer. Argue with Chris Ryan, aka C R. But even dream jobs have not so dreamy parts. You know, the work that slows you down never seems to go away. That's where service now is AI specialists come in. They're like digital teammates who actually do the job start to finish, no handoffs, no homework. That means more time for the work that actually matters, which for me is talking about whether the eighty six Celtics can beat the ninety six Bulls, which they could. To learn how to put AI to work for people, visit service now .com. This episode is brought to you by Firestone Complete Auto Care. There are a few things you don't want to overthink, like where you take your car when something feels off. Firestone Complete Auto Care is basically a one-stop shop. Agnostics, whatever's going on, their thousands of ASC certified technicians have got it covered. Plus, every visit comes with a courtesy inspection, including free tire and battery checks. Visit firestoneauto.com to find a location near you, a trusted name since 1926 . All right, I was thinking about this guy today. There was a moment on the Double TVs where the Jets were on the clock at 16 right as the Knicks were trying to close out the Hawks with 20 seconds left. And I was because Sean was supposed to come on tonight and I was like, that's possible Sean might have an aneurysm right now. You forgot about one thing. What did I forget? While that was happening, the Mets were winning seven to three, and they've been in the midst of this terrible tail spin, and the bases were loaded, and they pulled the starting or they pulled the pitcher and they brought in a reliever to pitch to the bases loaded. So the bases were loaded in a 7-3 game in the eighth inning. The Knicks were down by one point with seven seconds to go. And the Jets pick came in. This happened simultaneous ly. Unbelievable. Sports is the best. Today was just incredible with the sports that was happening. But do you know what happened? Do you guys know what I mean? Well, you took a tight end, even though you took a tight end at number 42 last year. And that was by far the best thing that had happened in that moment because the Mets gave up a grand slam to tie the game and blow the lead. And the Knicks lost when their best player fumbled the ball into the backcourt in the final seven seconds. So that was one of the more convulsive 35 seconds in sports rooting history for me that I can remember. I do feel like this pod is Bill's euphoria and Sean is the city sweeney at this moment. Like you brought him in just to cry. I think it's a little gratuitous to find it. No, we we agreed today, win or lose. And I I genuinely thought the Knicks were gonna win today. Yeah. I thought it had all the classic whatever , but uh but yeah, all right. So where do you want to start, Sean? You're down two one in the series. Um you have the Celtics waiting in round two, hopefully. Maybe not. If the maybe a bead comes back, who knows? Might do. We'll see about that. We will see about that. Cleveland looked like hot garbage then in Toronto. The East, the C's of parted for the Knicks in the East. And then you're down two months somehow. Um yeah, I don't I don't I don't feel good about the series and I don't feel good about the team and I haven't for roughly the last two and a half months of the season. And if you watch them play the Hawks in March, a game that they won, but they seemed severely unprepared for, and CJ McCollum also went off in that game and they didn't have an answer for him. And so yeah, I'm I'm already kind of spinning my wheels on, I guess they're gonna have to blow this up. And they've also probably made a mistake with Mike Brown. But I'm a catastrophist. So you know maybe, maybe things will be fine. It's foolish, I think, to lose faith in Jalen Brunson. He has proven that he is worthy of a little bit more faith than what I'm usually willing to grant. But this is two games in a row where this is this thing this game was sort of maybe you guys talked about this, but this game was sort of the inverse where they were in control for most of game two, and then they really spit the bit in the fourth quarter, and then they played so terrifically well in the fourth quarter of this game, and OG Ananobi has my heart forever. I just love him so much. And they just kind of lost it in the final moments. Um I thought the defensive alignment in the final possession against the Hawks was super weird going so small. And then they gave up an eight-otfoer because they went so small. And then Brunson just lost the ball. I thought the Hawks double teaming him there and just kind of moving away from Hart. Why Hart was even on the floor offensively in that final possession is something you can debate and I didn't think was smart. So yeah, I don't know. Feel like shit. Always feel like shit about sports. You know, what am I supposed to do, man? Three first rounders today. You did that at least. That was cool. Yeah. I'm actually kind of into that. We can talk about that if you want. Rob, do you have the catastrophist on 4K Blu-ray? Italian film, 1964. The special features are unbelievable. Honestly. Great footage. Um wait, can we talk about Mikhail Bridges and and this becoming one of the weirdest stories in the NBA? I think we have to talk about Mikhail Bridges. He had zero points in the second half of game two, and he had zero points in game three. It's zero and was basically benched for the entire fourth quarter for for McBride. And it's not like McBride was shutting anybody down. Um what Rob, what has happened to Mikael Bridges? I would say that this was a weird occurrence if it hadn't been happening for like a month straight now, on and off. Like he's had so many of these games where like you would have to work really hard to have less of an impact on the flow of basketball than Mikhail Bridges in this game. Like completely transparent. He hasn't always been the defender he's been hyped up to be for the Knicks, but this was an especially glaring case of that. I thought Deuce was like easily outplaying him. Like it really was an easy call to trade out some of those minutes, but they they need something, like just desperately, literally any sign of life from that spot. I would have thought he was I thought him and OJ would have been so important in this series against the Hawks wings. That's the weirdest thing. Like if there was a series for him, this would be one of the series, I would think. But OG lived up. And I would say Josh Hart lived up, right? How much of the Knicks play in this game resorted to flounder your way through a possession and then get bailed out at the last possible moment by either OG or Josh Hart, or I guess like a desperate Deuce McBride three. Like those were the only options. Yeah, OG had two absolutely ludicrous shot buzzer, shot clock buzzer saving heaves that went in. That I think if either of them don't go in, we're probably not even in the final minute in a close game. Like it really felt like they swung momentum. You I think you I think fans would probably feel like the Knicks are even more out of this series than it feels like right now. Because this is a game that like maybe kind of got away from them, but they were getting beat pretty much. So I mean they're 18 at one point. So it's one of those things where it's usually one of the wings that comes up short when they don't perform well. And sometimes it's Hart and sometimes it's OG. And more recently, especially this season, it seems like Mikhail has just still not been able to figure out what his role is , how he makes sense. He just kind of stands in the corner a lot of the time and waits for someone to maybe pass him the ball. And I think fans feel like this was an ill conceived trade from the moment it happened. And now that we're multi-years into it and he's already been given a new contract, I I mean he's making a lot of money to be scoring zero points in six straight quarters in the playoffs. It's it's just it's kind of depressing. It's kind of how I feel about them lacking down Miami Vice nineteen eighty five, but with Austin Butler as Sonny Crockett. Like they just kinda shot they had a great idea and just shot their wad without really thinking about it. Has it been confirmed that he's playing Sunny and not Tubbs because I think the move is to to race swap is to make MDJ Sunny. Oh my god. What do you think? I that broke my brain . Unbelievable. I mean MBJ has sunny That makes way more sense. So why not do it? That's a great idea. Wow. That's why you launched a new newsletter this week about movies, because you have great ideas. I love movies. You really love those movies. Um so Bridges is is this salvageable ? What is what is this? I think the problem is not just bridges, it's that to also catastrophize a little bit, this is a Knicks team that has felt like they are one bad day away all season from never speaking to each other ever again. And maybe that is a little bit of projection on our part. Maybe that's a little body language doctoring here and there. But I don't know. They just don't feel connected in terms of the way that they play. And you can tell that when they really do run into walls, guys like Bridges feel completely iced out. They don't know how to contribute. It's Sean, I think you absolutely nailed it that he's just kind of like idling off to the side as they try to figure out some problem, like try to try to figure out some solution to everything else that ails them. And it just he's not really a particip I'll tell you the body language doctor. Um, my front desk was multiple calls today during the game, multiple texts, wondering what if I was noticing what was happening. The net the only person who seemed remotely happy to be there was Jose Alvarado . Who was like, guys, I'll buy in. I'll be the cheerleader bench guy and and try to give everybody some good energy. They would cut to the Knicks bench after big plays and you could just kind of tell when a team's not that connected. My bigger thing is if you ask if you go nick by nick, who feels like they're totally happy with how everything's going, it's probably just Brunson and OG would be the and maybe Miles McBride. I don't know. What do you think, Sean? Even OG at times, you can kind of see him being like, shouldn't this be my team? Like I I'd feel that from him at times where he's feeling there was a moment in the fourth quarter where Brunson brought the ball up and was doubled and OG set a high screen and um Brunson went past the screen and it it didn't seem like he was going to pass the ball when the double came back. to him And then he did pass it to OG. And OG went to the basket and he got fouled. And I watched OG go back to Brunson and almost say to him, like, more of that. Yeah. Like, you can pass me the ball back. And I think that's really interesting. Just because he's he's obviously I if he's a number one, it's not a very good team, but he's a really interesting number two. And on this team, he's a number three. And the name that we have instead is Carl Anthony Towns, who is like the enigma of enigmas, and I thought was like at times brilliant defensively in this game. Really good defensively. Yes. And impossible to figure out offensively. Like I just don't know what to expect from him from him. And so, you know, I I don't know. I don't know what you do with Bridges. You can't take Hart off the team because he's the heart and soul of it and he's Brunson's boy. But also there are times when he's on the floor and you're like, this isn't really a rotation player and a functioning offense. And so they're just a series of awkwardly fitting parts and have been that for two and a half years. And yet this is the best Knicks team since like 1998. So it's so weird. It's just a weird situation. Well, and then also it's a team that if you played Boston in a series, you would have a ton of confidence as dysfunctional as the Knicks at Bed. Yeah. Sure. And Hart was the best guy on the team in game two and was pretty indispensable today. But I agree with you. It never adds up. What what is your Josh Hart take, Mahoney? Just in general? I have a hard time like talking myself into holistically for exactly this reason. It's like when he's great, he everything he does is super loud and incredibly impressive and feels completely indispensable. And then when he's anything less than great, like his flaws really drag an offense and completely devolve its flow. And I think all of these things are connected, right? When Jalen Brunson gets a little bit ball hoggy, some of it's because maybe defense isn't guarding Josh Hart very much and he's having to over-dribble to get where he wants to go. Carl Anthony Towns being, yes, really good defensively in a game like this, but maybe the most complicated star in the entire league, if you just wanted to crank up how much he gets the ball, like he'll just commit four offensive fouls or he'll have heinous turnovers. So it's like you have to work around all of these different things, hard included, to make the Knicks go. And sometimes you just run into walls all game long, like they seem to in this one . Sean, do you like this Knicks team? I mean, I love Jalen Brunson, you know, like I just I think he's really special. And I want him to be great. I want him to be a forever Nick. And I want him to reach the place that I think he deserves to be. And I I didn't really get the cat trade and I didn't get the bridges trade. And it has kind of worked insofar as they just win 50 games every year now, which I you know as recently as five years ago seemed impossible. So I can't it's not like I dislike them. I I really like them. And yet, like I told you the other night, like I I wasn't like I have to see every single second of this game because I feel like every game is Yeah. And even in the playoffs, they're down ten, they rally back. Yeah. And so it that's a different relationship to the team that I had even a few years ago before the Cat Bridges era when Tibbs was trying to gr ind, you know, Derek Rose and turn him into 2014 Derek Rose . So I I don't know if I love them. I really I love Bronson. It's hard to not think about Giannis right now and like what this could have been and if they had just pushed a little bit harder. Yeah, you know, I so I'm I'm really torn. I I still think there's a good chance that they win this series, even though they're down two one. Yes. And I I I agree with what you said, Bill. I think against Boston. We've seen it once before and we match up well with the Wings and a couple of really bad three point shooting games from the Celtics and we could be back in the Eastern Conference Finals and anything can happen after that. But um tonight Yeah, it's a weird basketball thing because I think Minnesota has it against Denver too. The Knicks have it against the Celtics. These certain matchups were you can tell the teams like we really like playing this team. This is just a good one for us, you know. And this will happen in football all the time where the right football team plays the right football team and they're just they're feeling good the whole time. I uh I think there's a crazy what if with this next team that probably doesn't get discussed enough, but I'm not just saying this. So Sean dips his head in a vat of acid. Are you sure you're not? The Halliburton shot, I really think is a sliding doors for this Knicks era because I I just think they probably win that series. I think that was such a bizarre basketball event. That's the weirdest collapse. And that shot going up 30 feet and coming down and going in. And then the Knicks almost winning an OT. And just that whole game, I just feel like if we play that game 30 times, the Knicks probably win 29 of them. And um , and maybe they make the finals last year instead of the Pacers. And then this is you're just thinking about this and talking about it completely differently. It was like, well, we were in the finals last year. Like there's some sort of validation of what happened. But that Halburn shot and that game in general just flipped it. So now, like if you lose to the Hawks in round one, this all feels like a complete failure. But if that shot misses, it's not. It's a weird point, but I I do think it's a point. Well so how much does it how different is it, for example, from when the first subway, the subway series, when the Mets played the Yankees and they just got dominated and they made it to the World Series, and they're like, this is great, but they got kind of embarrassed on a big on the big stage. And likewise when the Knicks went to the finals and faced the Spurs and they just kind of got bullied and they shouldn't have been there. Thanks for not bringing up the Patriots against the Seahawks. Appreciate that. Yeah. Well who'd you would you guys draft a tackle? Why would you need a tackle? I thought you I thought you were black. Interesting. I did. I did. I watched the whole Super Bowl building. Yeah, I really enjoyed it. Um I think uh it would be one of those things where if that Knicks team last year had gone to the finals, they would have just gotten their doors kicked in by OKC and we would have been like, all right, cool, they made it to the finals, but they weren't they never really m like materially had a chance to win. The same way that I think this season, no one's like, well the Knicks do have a chance to win. Like they don't have a chance to win the finals. They're not gonna beat whoever's in the Western Conference. So it's just a little bit hard to to feel like that game in particular radically changed the fortunes and future of the franchise. That's fair. But it would it it doesn't mean that that series was not any less painful. And the one thing that I on all my Nix chains this today, a lot of like this is the pasters all over again, pastures all over again. And a couple things are not going our way, a lot of sloppiness. The head coach seems to have misunderstood the assignment in this matchup, like a lot of similar kinds of vibes. And this is the first round and not the second round. But you know what? They were in this position last year with the Pistons and they prevailed. So we'll see what happens. Well, even down to the second half of the Hawks season being such a resurgent thing, just like the Pacers were. Like I think a lot, a lot of opponents are still trying to get a feel for what exactly the Hawks are. Uh, I don't blame the Knicks for being caught a little bit off guard. I wasn't expecting CJ McCollum to turn into Jesus Christ, but he just has. And now he could do no wrong and this is the world we live in. Sean, will you stick around for a couple other small basketball conversations? I will, but I you must be feeling great as a longtime CJ guy. I know CJ was one of your boys back in the day, Bill. I always really liked him. I really thought that Houston it's just so funny that Houston didn't get him and needs him so desperately in this Lakers series. And they just have to be like, what the hell? Uh can we talk about OKC? Absolutely. I really feel like and it it's internet driven and social media doesn't mean everything, but I just in discourse I have with people in my life, like everybody's just like, fuck this. Like they're just tired of the style. And some of it's not fair, but it's really risen to villain level. And uh I was wondering, they flop and they foul bait enough that do we just give them the nickname Oklahoma City F C ause they're like a soccer team? Does that work for you guys? You kinda have to walk your way there. I think we need something a little more straightforward. If we had a premier league team in the NBA, it would be Oklahoma City. Yeah. Oklahoma City . Yeah. There's some sort of Atletico Thunder. I just want to workshop some sort of soccer thing with them. But Rob, how how fair is the hatred of uh the tricks that OKC pulls. Because the bottom line is it works, and that's the whole point of you know, you're trying to win, you're doing whatever you can. It does work. Some of it is, I think, quite earned. Like Shay does exaggerate a lot of contact. I think that what frustrates a lot of people is just the different thresholds, right? Of you can't touch Shea, but they're allowed to just swarm and hack defensively and be ultra aggressive. To me, that feels consistent with everything we've ever seen in modern NBA history, which is once you get a reputation for being good at something, the refs will mostly just assume that you're doing that great thing again. Like if you look at the players who get away with the most travels, it's all the guys with amazing footwork because you just think, oh, they pulled it off. Oh, they kept their pivot. I think the Thunder came by a lot of this stuff, honestly, in terms of how physically they play defensively, but they do get an incredible benefit of the doubt. And then some of it's just not really their fault. Like it's not their fault that Devin Booker got called for one of the worst technical fouls I have ever seen in an NBA game. Like that's not really a thunder issue so much as it's like thunder adjacent. rationally hate random things. I'm imagining a Thunder Celtics finals and just what it speaking of catastrophes. I mean, that would be a a global catastrophe. And a very complicated NBA season, I will say, in the perception of the league. Who's excited for that bill? Who's pumped or besides you obviously? Like who's who's like Thunder Celtics? I'd love to watch that for seven consecutive games . I think the Spurs getting to the finals would be the win for the league. I agree. I'll be interested to see. I mean, obviously the Lakers getting in would be their wet dream, but um I think the Spurs making it all the way would be the what they would want, would be my guess. Um Spurs, anyone would be the ideal finals. Sure. Joker going for a second one would be more fun than OKC trying to go back to back. And the Celtics thing, look, if you don't love sports movies and Jason Tatum coming back from his darkest ho ur and rising from the ashes and coming back, then I don't know what to tell you. You don't like sports movies. You didn't like Christy with Sidney Sweeney, obviously . I could have been better, I think, that movie, just like I think the finals could be better if it were I don't know. Detroit San Antonio. That would be interesting, right? Nick San Antonio would be magic. I feel like y'all are selling the Thunder a little bit short as an entertainment product. I get that they are despised because of some of their tactics, but like their defense is very fun to watch in a like watching a cheetah chase down a gazelle in the open range kind of way. Like I do I do like the state of nature that they create. I like watching the Thunder as well. I I hate the foul stuff, but they're not the only team that does it. But I I feel the same way, Rob. I think they're I actually the problem with them is they're up twenty in the second quarter of a lot of these games. You're like, all right, that sucks. Um don't you think it would become a pretty significant national talking point though if somehow miraculously the Knicks got to the finals and faced the Thunder and the two chief foul baiters in the league were were toe to toe. I mean, how many pods could you do about that particular issue? Because, you know, Brunson got love him. He has his ways, right? He does. He does. The people who don't watch the NBA regularly who just tune in for the finals would think their broadcast is like flickering buffering with all like the pump fake jab steps like pivot through that Jalen Brunson and Shea are trying to do. Lakers Rockets, Rockets are down 0-2. Austin Reeves coming back. Unbelievable. I I think this is one of the most bizarre series that we've had in a while. The Rockets are down 0-2 to a team that basically just ran amok for the first half yesterday with Luke Canard Marcus Smart and forty one year old LeBron and then held on for Dear Life in the second half. And uh I what's the Sean? What just as somebody that just flicks this stuff on, what's more fun to you, the demise of the Rockets or 41-year-old LeBron carrying the Lakers without Luca? You know what Katie reminds me of recently is Kany e West. Those are two guys in like 2012. I was like, these guys are never gonna lose. These guys are unbelievable. They're so naturally gifted. They're on they're on a collision course with destiny, and they will be great forever. And now is it 0-7 in his last seven playoff games? Kevin Durant is and obviously not healthy and getting his ass kicked by the B team from Los Angeles. Yeah. It just weird. And you know, Kanye, we can let's not talk about that. Um, so yeah, I think it's unfortunate. I I loved watching Kevin Durant play. He broke my heart when he didn't york. Um, and these are just desserts. Thirty-seven years old. He was in the 2007 draft and probably shouldn't be the guy that's handling the ball for 37 minutes again in a playoffs. Um what's what do you think E Man's biggest mistake was? Because he's taking a pretty big beating, Rob. It's a pretty big list . Yeah. Um, I would say spending the last several months not preparing the team to like function whatsoever on offense. Like it these are the problems right now, but this is the same team that if you turn them on two months ago, it'd be like, why don't they know how to play out of a double team for Kevin Durant? And here it is, all coming home to roost when he's the only guy who can actually handle the ball. So if you wanted Reed Shepard to be a bigger part of your team and you need him to be a bigger part of your team. Maybe you should have invested more in his actual encore development at the incremental stages of the season. It's like there's all these like long game visions of who the Rockets could have been, and it all got traded out for like Ime Odoka puffing out his chest and wanting to play like grinders every night of the regular season. And I just think the Rockets are so much worse for it. Yeah, I agree. It's that's why you have the 82 game season's way too long. But one of the benefits is you can keep throwing Reed Shepard out there and trying to get him experience for a series like this. Yeah. The Lou Canard thing is pretty interesting though, because I think it's somebody we've always, I think all of us have liked and have seen the ceiling for and it just never happened. And he would just bounce around from team to team. And then somehow JJ Reddick has unlocked him. And I think JJ's been one of the stars of the playoffs. Agreed. Like beating the Rockets two games in a row without your two best guys is nuts. Um not that surprising that JJ knows what to do with Luke Kennard. I mean they have someone's profile as players. Getting DeAdreate and they have a pulse is way up there, but I don't know. I was watching them in game two as as ugly as it is, they still have they had shooters. You know, they they I at least understood what they were doing. It wasn't always gonna be successful, but there was a plan in place. Whereas like you watch the rockets, you're like, I don't understand anything that you guys are doing. When Fred V Van Vliet went down, do you think they should have just tried to trade for CJ then in the offseason? Yeah, that was that was the name that got mentioned. I think part of the problem was Van Vliet would have had to be in the trade. Right? Yeah, with that kind of salary. Well, I think there probably would have been other constructions, but it would have cost you maybe Atari Eason, Dorian Finney Smith, who they thought was going to be an important part of their team, like maybe some guys like that. Well, CJ made I think 30, 30 something, and Bamble was at 25. So they could have tried to and they had all these extra picks, like it would have been pretty easy. I I did dn't didn't understand why they get anybody. Like why don't they have the Sunmu? It's not like they don't have picks. Great question. But they had a bunch of things they could have given up. But uh it's almost like they didn't think they were gonna really be competitive or they were saving themselves for next year. I didn't really understand it. But you have Kevin Durant at his age. Like this again, this is the year. Like you're supposed to be pushing forward once he's a member of your team and not just accepting that, oh, we got a bad break. Let's let Fred rehab and we're gonna see where we are next year. Like Kevin Durant might not be a borderline fifty, forty, ninety guy on this kind of production next year. Like at some point, the bottom will fall out. How would you rate the playoffs so far, Rob I think quite good for the first round. Like an A minus. Uh like B yeah, B plus A minus zone. Like I think if this Nuggets Wolves game tonight had really kicked off, then maybe we'd be headed into a pretty special area. But the Lakers Rockets being like a complete flip on what I thought it would be. A lot of split series that are hotly contested. I mean, we got two one-point games in terms of the Hawks Knicks alone. Sorry, Sean. But like there's just a lot on the board here that's exciting and surprising. And then you have your CJ McCollum level stories that are just kind of catching us all off guard. This is kind of what we want. The streaming thing's been a little weird. Don't like don't like it. It's just weird to not be able to flip channels around and but man, I know this is gonna be what the future is of all this stuff, but to tonight because I had three specific sporting events that I was paying close attention to, I had a TV on a laptop open and my phone going with all three. And I don't know if I've ever done that before. We don't all multi-view quad box like you, Bill. And it was honestly extremely confusing to my little daughter. She was like, which one of these am I supposed to be paying attention to? And I was like, none of them. Please don't be close to me right now. This is dangerous. So please leave. This episode is brought to you by Sarah V Haircare. Scalp is skin . Healthy scalp? Beautiful hair. Discover hair care reinvented with dermatologists from the number one dermatologist recommended skincare brand with gentle hydrating and oil control balancing shampoo and conditioner. Formulated without sulfates or fragrance, Cera V hair care is suitable for sensitive scalps and all hair types, curl patterns, and color-treated hair. Visit CeraVee.com slash hair care to learn more. Available online and in store at retailers nationwide. No one goes to Hank's for his spreadsheets. They go for a darn good pizza. Lately though, the shop's been quiet. So Hank decides to bring back the one dollar slice. He asks co-pilot in Microsoft Excel to look at his sales and costs and help him see if he can afford it. Co-pilot shows Hank where the money's going and which little extras make the dollar slice work. Now Hank has a line out the door. Hank makes the pizza, co-pilot handles the spreadsheets. Learn more at M365 Copilot.com slash work. Um Rob, are you excited for Sean's new newsletter? Of course. For this thing? What's going on? The answer is yes. Okay. Then and then I'm very excited about it. Sean, I paid right away because I'm wealthy and because I wanted you to have my my money for it. Thanks, Bill. I didn't ask you for a comp. As you know, I'm also doing this with Spotify, so I'm not totally sure how that financial arrangement works. I just I just wanted to throw my money into the ring. Thank you so much. It was great to get it. You did like four thousand words today. Your fingers still work. I was jealous. I did. I might have got a little over the top in the first piece. Um but yeah, it's it's really fun. Um Rob as you know and Bill as you used to know and and we're gonna get you out of retirement and get into a newsletter at some point. It's just very well yeah, we will. We will. I will. Um it's rewarding to write. It's like it's a different kind of rewarding than doing a show. Um and I'm enjoying it so far. It is hard. It is actually hard to sit down and focus for several consecutive hours and write something, even if it's just something as silly as what I've been writing about movies. So um I'm excited to be doing it. I I am legitimately like blown away by how cool and nice people are about this. And I'm excited to do more. Next one won't be 4,000 words. But um I don't know. What do you want to see me write about? What kind of what what what movies are you interested in, Bill? I like first of all, I I might want to have a paragraph every once in a while. Um I haven't I don't know if I told you about these lifetime movies I've been watching on Netflix. You did. Yeah. Um Yeah, I did. I did tell you about those. Gaslit by my husband. Gaslit by my husband. Um Nobody Dumps My Daughter was what I saw this week. Uh Netflix has finally figured out Lifetime and Netflix are the marriage everybody needs, Rob. Just have a really good title and somebody with a slightly sinister face in the thumbnail and people are gonna click on it. Two of the top ten right now. The other one was husband, father, killer was another good one. But this is the kind of stuff I want to watch late at night when I'm falling asleep. I can't watch Babylon at 11:30 at night, Sean. First of all, yes, you can. Yeah, you absolutely can do that. I do it on the regular. I don't want to fall through to Babylon. Somebody out there is like staring at a spreadsheet of your browsing algorithmic information being like, Yeah, we we got him again. Gas lit by my husband.. You got America You're in the top ten. You're in the top ten. Is there not a ten episode string of recaps of Nobody Dumps My Daughter on the Prestige TV podcast, Rob? Did I miss that? It's actually coming in June. You know, we really wanted to save it for the meediest part of the calendar. Really, really bring people in, be one of our tent poles. I mean, this is this is what the people want. I used to be more involved with the planning and ideation of Prestige TV, and then I let Joanna and Rob kind of sent them on their raft and push them in the ocean. And it's worked out 95% of the time. But then occasionally there will be the three episodes on beef where I'm like, we probably could have wrapped this up in 40 minut es. I don't know if you saw. Did you you finish beef, Rob ? I did. That's a prestige product. You're t you're telling me an Oscar Isaac, Kerry Mulligan, Kaylee Show in the Charles Melton show where we could have ripped through it. Oh no, absolutely not. I can't say I I can't say I finished beef. There's gotta be one of those you they have those ratings at the end where it's thumbs up, thumbs down. I wish they were like more options . What do you want? This kept my interest for a few hours, but ultimately I don't not sure it was worth my time. Check it out halfway through episode three. That's me on most TV shows. Yeah, the one that we're not covering on Prestige that I've uh I'm ashamed to admit I'm enjoying is Imperfect Women . Oh the the Apple series. I don't even know what this show is. What is it Let's go. What's it about? It's actors. Apple 's strategies, it's uh it's actors or actresses that you've heard of and liked, but probably haven't really resonated with them in about four years. And now they're in a show where somebody dies in the first three minutes. Yeah. And then we go backwards to try to figure out who did it. So in this one, it's Carrie Washington, Elizabeth Moss, and Kate Mara . Long time, long time Grantland ringer, all-star. Like Rudy Gobert. Like you go back and you look at our basketball reference, and it's like, wow, she was a great Atlanta All-Star four straight years. We love Casey. Early 2010s. Um, so it's the three of them, and there's a murder mystery, and you just kind of turn your brain off and go. Which I think is its own. That's not prestige TV. That's like another type of TV. But uh beef was like a little too much work for me. There was a little too much going on. A little too much work. Yeah, and it wasn't good enough for all the work was where I landed. Bill, I actually w,anted to pitch you on a show for Apple that is based on um some of the IP we have here at the ringer. It's called Mysterious Podcasters. And it's three actors that look a lot like you and Rob and Chris Ryan. And you know, we can talk about who those actors should be based on your comps. But it's um it's the three of you guys in the tile image huddled around a single microphone, and like you're one of you is like nudging the other out of the way and fighting for space, and it's like a dramedy. You know, it's not pure drama. There are laughs in it, but also there's like a real mystery at the center. One of you killed one of your former podcast partners. And we have to figure out who did it. It I well Greenwald dies. He's in the first scene. He's dead. And then it turns out at the end Chris wanted to watch for himself, but nobody realized that for seven episodes. Yeah, mysterious podcasters coming soon to Apple TV Plus. I really like that. It feels like a written by Jason Siegel production. I feel like he could nail the tone of exactly what we're talking about. You and Jason Siegel are about the same height, Rob. Yeah, I'm the same. You know what? I'm not opposed to it. Let's let's let's get Jason on the phone. He used to ball as well. The key, the key with these shows is the thumbnail and the title does 97% of the work. You really have to nail both. Like beef is great. It's four letters and you could just put some sort of crazy thumbnail and you re'adyre to roll. But I mean, so Sean, I I deep dive the binge the the pit. Oh yeah. I heard you talking to Joe about it. Yeah, I did two straight seasons in about five days. And now I just have a hole in my heart . It's just gone. Well, they can fix that. You're just gonna roll into the ER. They'll they'll get you fixed up. I'm just waiting for Dr. Robbie just to figure out what happened with him. Um but that it's it's so funny that they just unlock this strategy of hey, it's gonna be a doctor series like everything else, except it's gonna be every hour and it's gonna be grosser than a cave than a network show. biggest challenge with the pit is I did really enjoy when TV shows had 22 episodes in a season and it felt like we were spending a lot of time with these characters and building a relationship with them. I like you Bill was a huge ER fan, watched every episode of the first like six or seven seasons. Um, at this stage of my life, when they're like, yeah, there's going to be 18 episodes in this season, I'm like, I nope. I I have I won't be there. Yeah. Like, good luck. Sounds like you guys have got an Emmy winning product. Happy for Noah Wiley. Um, but I just can't find the time. I'm sorry. Look at all these blu-rays. You know, like I don't you say this, but when it comes time to do the Transformers Hall of Fame, you're like, yeah, let me just mainline these real quick. I mean, I don't even have to prepare for that. We can do it right here. Yeah, the irony of you saying that when it's you're doing like a 1978 Hall of Fame draft or movie movie draft, and then you watch 20 movies from 1978 in the span of three days. But the but doesn't have time for Dr. Robbie. But that's like saying to an architect, why are you spending all those all that time drawing those blueprints? You know, like this is this is the raw materials. These are the this is these are the brain gems that are necessary to make that that draft or that hall of fame. You know, the pit is like that's something you do in your free time. And uh 18 of them, no, I'm good. You're missing Nurse Dana though, who would be one of your favorite characters of all time? Who's who who what's her story? She's just the one that that sucks everyone in who jumps in on the pit after one episode. They're like, I love Dana. I don't know what is it about Dana, right? I can't even describe her. She's just a gruff, real talking, you know, nurse running the place. A woman in charge that appeals to a lot of people. Pittsburgh accent goes out, has has cigarettes outside the the front door of the hospital. Just dart after dart after dart. Just smoke and dye. Oh, it is not just CR speed. It is CR is in fifth gear . CR CR's at an F1 course . Flying around. Uh Sier andra I simultaneously were watching season one of Miami Vice and he kind of floated a why wouldn't we just recap season one of Miami Vice? And we decided that would be the all-time one for us. I don't think I don't think America wants it. I don't think we can get a sponsor for it. I don't know what feed it would go on. But we did talk about it. If you just need the news peg of the new movie. Oh. I was gonna say if you want me to host it on the newsletter, then that that's an option. Just to get everybody prepped for Miami Vice 85. There's video capabilities, you know? The on the newsletter? Yeah, sure. We could do like little 10-minute episodes. Yeah, I mean, I'm not planning to do that because I'm already this is my fourth pod cast of today. But um I really it is really just a bad coincidence. Fourth podcast? Yeah, I'm not I never do that, but I'm promoting newsletter. Also the meds are on fire, so I had to talk to Zach earlier this morning. The newsletter is called Projections . Um you're also gonna be on not the upcoming rewatchables because we'll be Ghostbusters, but you're on the one after.. The next one I'm pumped about it. Yeah. I'm really excited about the next one. They're very normal takes. He said Russell Crowe and nice guys dog walked Gladiator for his for the Oscar. No, I said Joaquin dog walked Russell Crowe with Gladiator. That's it's it's a very important distinction. Sorry. I screwed And um spend the rest of your life there for that take. But I it was it was really good podcasting. Thank you. I appreciate it. As long look, as long as it's white collar, as long as I can play a little pick up basketball, have a nice cafeteria lunch. Like I'm not opposed to some prison time. No, you're going under the prison in the gulag. Um, and you'll be tortured every day. But uh I at least I'll be my authentic self, unlike all of the members of the grunge movement. That's uh really how dare you and I'm gonna get violent here, Bill. I I blew hip Sean and Chris and uh in Yassi, I was saying how the poll replacements now retroactively being on the same level as R.E.M. is one of the things that infuriates me the most about about uh what's happened with music in the last thirty five years and that devolved into a basically a screaming match on text. But Rob, how are you gonna follow that up though? Like now every time you're on the show, yeah, you have to come with some nuclear take, and you spoke of men like Eddie Vedder and Chris Cornell being inauthentic. But now when you perform a take, we'll know you have reached beyond the pale. I think I just can't go on the rewatchables again. I think I just gotta like take my bow, exit through the fire, escape. We're bringing you on for From Hell Month. You're not gonna miss From Hell Month in June. It's five movies. Oh wow. That does sound quite exciting. Yeah, from Hell. Uh all right, Sean. Good luck with projections. Thanks, guys. Mahoney, can hear you on uh Prestige TV and watch you there as well as Ringer MBA with how's the new guy, Kyle Mann? That's going all right. Kyle's crushing it. New Guy Energy? New Guy Energy, a very particular energy from Kyle Mann, but I think he brings us a folksiness that we desperately needed, us coastal elites for sure. All right. Uh thanks for popping on. See you guys. Thanks, Bill. Thanks, Bill . All right, that's it for the podcast. Thanks to Mahoney and Sean. Thanks to Gau and Eduardo as well. Don't forget about the rewatchables, which went up Monday at Kindergarten Cop. Don't forget about Legata. Please check that out. New Ringer original series. And I am gonna be back this weekend with Zach Lowe. Um we'll be coming on Netflix live right after the last playoff basketball game, whatever it is, or whenever that game's been decided. If it's a 20 point blowout in the third quarter, we'll come on earlier. So uh enjoy the weekend. Uh I know it's great on the East Coast right now. Uh wish I was back in Boston. Um but it's nice here in LA too. Enjoy the weekend see you on Sunday. 21 plus in president select states for Kansas in affiliation with Kansas Star Casino, or 18 plus in President DC, Kentucky, or Wyoming. Optim required. Rewards are non-withdrawable. Restrictions apply, including bonus and token expiration, leg requirements, and max wager amount. C terms at sportsbook.fando.com. Game problem call 1-800-GAMB or 1-800-MYRSE. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org slash chat in Connecticut or mdgambling help dot org in Maryland. Hope is here. Visit gambling helpline ma .org or call eight hundred-three two two two two seven fifty fifty for twenty four-seven support Or call 877-8 HOPE NY or text Hope NY in New York for Louisiana. Call 877-770-7867